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Corte Madera, CA                                                                                                         May 2013
The Inside Source is produced by Marin Municipal Water District to inform local decisionmakers and opinion leaders on issues affecting Marin's water, people and environment.

Features
New Desal EIR Ruling
Summer Pipeline Projects
June 19 Open House
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MMWD Board of Directors 
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Upcoming Public Meetings
 
Tues., June 4, 7:30 pm
BOARD MEETING 
Board Room 


Tues., June 18, 7:30 pm
BOARD MEETING 
Board Room  

RESERVOIR LEVELS CLOSE TO AVERAGE 

Even though 2013 has been unusually dry, reservoir levels are close to average. Here are the current water statistics:

  • Reservoir Levels - As of May 26, reservoir storage is 68,675 acre-feet,* or 86 percent of capacity. The average for this date is 70,193 acre-feet, or 88 percent of capacity. Total capacity is 79,566 acre-feet.  
  • Rainfall - Rainfall this year (July 1, 2012 to May 26, 2013) is 38.42 inches. Last year for the same period we had 40.34 inches; average is 51.93 inches.
  • Water Use - Water use for the week ending May 26 averaged 30.5 million gallons per day, compared to 29.7 million gallons per day for the same week last year.     
  • Creek Releases - During the month of April 2013 MMWD released 414 million gallons, or a total of 1,271 acre-feet, into Lagunitas and Walker creeks in west Marin. We release water throughout the year to maintain adequate flows for the fishery per our agreements with the State of California.
Current water use and reservoir figures can be found on the homepage of our website.

 

*One acre-foot is 325,851 gallons.


DISTRICT TAKING STEPS IN RESPONSE TO DRY YEAR
Due to good carryover storage from last year and abundant early rainfall in the fall, MMWD's reservoirs filled to capacity in late December. Since then, however, the year has turned decidedly dry. In fact, rainfall for January through April totaled slightly more than five inches, which is about 15 percent of average rainfall for the period and is the driest January-April total ever recorded. The previous record low January-April rainfall was 9.7 inches in 1984.

Even though reservoir levels are only slightly below average for late May, we have taken proactive operational measures to optimize our supply this year. We also are reminding our customers this has been a drier than average spring and water conservation is especially important this year.

CALIFORNIA APPEALS COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF MMWD'S 2009 DESALINATION EIR
A California Appeals Court recently overturned a Marin Superior Court finding of inadequacy regarding an environmental impact report (EIR) certified by MMWD in 2009 for a proposed seawater desalination plant. The decision reverses the Marin Superior Court's ruling that the EIR did not meet the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The original lawsuit was filed by the North Coast Rivers Alliance (NCRA).

MMWD has no current plans to pursue desalination, but the district filed the appeal because of the district's strong interest in seeing that CEQA laws are applied fairly and appropriately. The decision means that MMWD's EIR does, in fact, comply with the requirements of CEQA. However, if the district ever needs to pursue desalination because of drought or water supply issues, the district can rely on this EIR. The Court of Appeal's decision means that, at that point, the district would be reviewing whether any conditions have changed since the EIR was certified and whether any additional environmental review is necessary, rather than how to repair an EIR that failed to comply with CEQA. In addition, the ruling means MMWD is not obligated to pay NCRA's attorneys' fees.

NUMEROUS MMWD PIPELINE PROJECTS THIS SUMMER
This summer MMWD will be replacing almost 24,000 feet of pipeline, or about 4.5 miles, in various neighborhoods throughout Marin. In some areas we'll be replacing aging, leak-prone pipes as part of our capital improvement program; in others, we'll be installing larger pipes to provide better water flow for fighting fires.

The project with the greatest public impact will be the installation of about 3,600 feet of pipeline along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Red Hill Avenue at "the Hub" in San Anselmo. Construction there is scheduled to run June 3 - August 15.

Other planned projects are in other parts of San Anselmo, as well as in Mill Valley, San Rafael and Woodacre. MMWD and its contractors will make every effort to minimize traffic, but delays will occur. Click here for a complete list of MMWD summer 2013 construction projects.

MMWD HOSTING JUNE 19 OPEN HOUSE ON MT. TAMALPAIS SUPPORT PROPOSAL 

For several years MMWD has been exploring the idea of developing a "Friends" group to help support vital but under-funded restoration, stewardship and education in the Mt. Tamalpais watersheds. As MMWD and other community members with like minds began discussing how best to move forward on this idea, it became clear that real benefits could be achieved by collaborating with the other public land management agencies in and around Mt. Tamalpais: Marin County Open Space District, California State Parks and the National Park Service, all supported by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. A "Tamalpais Lands Collaborative" that included these entities could address natural resource management, visitor experience, volunteer opportunities and other inherently cross-jurisdictional needs in a more efficient and holistic way.
 
Continued conversations with the Conservancy gave rise to the concept of using their existing organizational infrastructure to house this new collaborative, rather than creating a completely new non-profit from the ground up. To explore this idea further and to hear from interested community members, MMWD is hosting an open house on Wednesday, June 19, 6:00 - 8:00 pm, at the Marin Art and Garden Center at 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross. Click here for directions.  


NEW BLOG POSTS
Check out these recent posts from MMWD's blog, Think Blue Marin:
  • MMWD Vegetation Ecologist Andrea Wiliams shares some little-known facts about lizards. If you don't appreciate lizards now, you will after you read this.   
  • The May 18 Marin-Friendly Garden Tour was a huge success. Read all about it here.
  • Test your water facts knowledge by taking this test created by garden blogger Charlene Burgi.  

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
We welcome your comments and need your help raising awareness about water in Marin. Please share this information with your colleagues and constituents. Thank you!
Libby Pischel, Public Information Officer
Marin Municipal Water District
[email protected]
(415) 945-1421